Is "rake" really the right terminology? I always viewed the extra money that never hits the prize pool for a tournament to be the house's "fee." The house is allowed to make some money off the tournament, so a tournament that is $300+40 (and then they take out 3-5% as an automatic tip for the dealers) means that from your $340 buy-in only about $290 actually hits the prize pool. (As opposed to the rake at a cash game table where the house takes a small piece out of each pot.) Either way, I agree that most players don't really view the rake/fee as a significant issue. If you had a choice of paying $500 to enter a tournament or $550 ($500 + $50) to enter another tournament running at the same time, where the payout structure would be the same in both events, you'd obviously choose the $500 (no-fee) event. But, I doubt many people will be making their Vegas plans specifically around this one event because it has no fee/rake.

I agree. I would love to play the mini main as well if my timing allowed it. However I am locked in only 11th - 18th. Senior event and any decent structured event will get my game that period of time

LOL we have similar time frames I have reservations for June 11th thru 23rd.

Yes that covers the Senior and the old fart Super Senior Events which are my personal main priority. I also fill in everything else around that time frame with what is available at Aria, Wynn, Hollywood, and additional WSOP events that I believe are worth the effort based upon the structures. I basically played daily last year for 11 days straight (including day 2's) but want to pace myself a little better this year. A poster named Cocolegros provided a fabulous tool for scheduling that also analyzed the various events available at multiple casino's. Hopefully he does it again this year. https://vegas-poker-schedule.com/

Geez 11 days straight is really grinding it. LOL. I mentioned earlier in the thread I too base my smaller events around Cocolegros ratings. Hope to get an event downtown. Spent many years railing the WSOP at Binions. Geez the cardroom is dying from what I heard. Very Very Sad. Memories I will forever cherish.

The full vegas schedule sheet will indeed be there again this year! Great tool. Pay attention to the Venetian events, they were good last year.

Ya when it pops up I am sure someone will post the 2019 link here.
Thought the remainder of WSOP schedule was due now????

Indeed. These days the summer Binion’s series draw so few runners they’re not worth playing. Golden Nugget draws strong attendance if you’re looking for a decent payday downtown.


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Binions series past two years seemed a waste as it related to NLHE events but had a couple of decent events in the non-NLHE categories. Their nightly events during the Series are a complete waste of time though...

Nugget had some options that did not exist elsewhere like the TD-mix. One I did not enter was the NL HORSE that was on the calendar two years ago (not sure if it returned last year and don't have my schedule folder in the office). It did not draw well...fewer than two dozen entries. Was very glad I had gone to an O8 event on the Strip that day...

Very true I played the senior event at nugget and another event . A lot of runners. That same year I played binions final senior event they had and a small turnout. What the hell happened to such an iconic room.
Nugget cash games were plentiful as well. Binions had 1 or 2 games going.
So sad.

Binions just doesn't have the space to run a major series that includes large-field NLH events.

If I recall the last event I played there there were around 20 tables available for the senior event. It was setup day 1, and day 2, and day 3 final. Still hardly anyone showed for day 2. Akashenk I actually went upstairs to the old bingo hall and former WSOP room. Geez I was told it cant be used because of lack of security video and something else don't recall. TRULY the holy grail of all poker rooms. The ghosts of greatness still fill the room. Amen.

The signature wall is pretty neat. But to all good things must come an end. Will be interesting to see if anybody is sentimental over the Rio when the WSOP likely moves to the new convention space next to the High Roller in a couple years.

nobody will miss the Rio.

It ain't going anywhere anytime soon. Rio depends on the WSOP for a lot of revenue every year. CET isn't dumb enough to cut it's own throat. At least I don't think so.

The main difference between rio and binions is the fact there were very few rec players pre moneymaker boom. The fields were made up mainly of the very best around the world. Also there was a decency and respect among the players around the whole event.
I have zero sentiment for rio.
binions still has $4 max rake + $2 per/hr comp. I definitely as always will be playing at least one event and or cash.

+1. It has all of the worst attributes of a 2nd tier strip hotel without the strip.

The Big 50 is basically the Colossus of old with longer levels, so I look for it to get around 18,900. The Colussus this year should be around 11,000.

They added more events, but I noticed some dates between events have nothing scheduled:
- Monday June 3
- Wednesday June 12
- Sunday June 16
- Tuesday June 18
- Sunday June 23
- Tuesday June 25
- Tuesday July 9
- Wednesday July 10

I counted the events posted so far and the total is 40, which seems low for the 50th anniversary. I saw the 10k Seven Card Stud event but I didn't see the 1.5k Seven Card Stud event (the one I want). So the schedule released so far is not complete, right?

I already booked tickets, but I'll wait to see if they post the 1.5k Stud event before getting hotels (want to be at Rio for those dates).

The schedule so far is just preliminary, so I expect to see more detail and some filler events once they get the full schedule, with structure sheets, posted.

Book your room and cancel or change the dates later. It has been my experience with the Rio that they are very good at honoring online price changes and very flexible with date changes. The deposit they request is trivial. You have everything to gain if the prices go down and lose nothing if the pricing increases. Same holds true with car rentals at least for the Enterprice group. Airline can be a different story.

I printed out the schedule but then realized that they have not put in most of the $1,500 events yet. Would be nice if they are actually trying to coordinate with the other Series directors to minimize overlap on the non-NLHE events. I am guessing the dates you have mentioned will be among the ones with the $1,500's filling up the calendar...

Since they are insisting on running the Main with the BBA, it frees up money for me to use on the stud variants and the smaller O8 events around town. The question now is whether I will just be extending the current trip or if I am going to do like last year and have three or four trips with a day or two in the office in between them...

The $10k events are now listed as 4 days, so the structures may indeed be better.

The WSOP has no reason to coordinate with other series at this time since they are the main attraction. It's incumbent on other series to schedule their events around the WSOP, not the other way around, at least for now. And I think, for the most part, the other major players do a good job at this. Of course, it isn't always easy to schedule things perfectly with the non NHL events since NLH continues to be where the profits are made and a room isn't gong to forego NLH revenue in order to make a perfect schedule
for a much smaller mixed game crowd. But it was good to see both the Venetian and Wynn increase their available space last year. I assume they will do so again this year, which only means more opportunity for offering events to a wider audience.

As for BBA, you know I agree with you, at least as far as its purpose and the reality vs perception of its benefits, and certainly regarding how its been promoted. However, you're going to have a hard time finding a large-field NLH event at the WSOP or anywhere else that isn't using it. I appreciate the principle of your boycott, and I actually believe you when you say you will not play these events, unlike the vast majority of posters who are likely all talk when it comes to these sorts of proclamations.

Anyhow, there are lots of great large-field NLH tourneys out there. It seems like a waste to give up so much value over something which, while a net-negative in our view for all the reasons which have been debated here and elsewhere, is not dramatically worse than the traditional system.

One of the benefits to tournament directors of the BBA (which I had not really considered before) is the ability to run a large tournament without any green (25) chips. Not only does that negate the need to make change during the ante process, but it also takes out of play making change on bets during game play (e.g., the raise to 425) and takes away an entire round of coloring up all the green chips. I agree that there are some negatives in the game play when tables are short, but that affects everyone equally and the TDs don't really care, so they will do what is easy for them, so I'm resigned to it.

I’m not a fan of having to make 3x or 4x raises instead of something more precise, but to each their own.